bee, snail, frog, serpent's skin (pielea şarpelui, No. 5), ram's horn, boar's tusks (colțu porcului, No. 17), serpent (șarpele, No. 20), octopus (caracatița, No. 22), hen and chickens (cloşca cu pui, No. 31), little storks (pui de barzā, No. 32), hare's ear (urechea epurelui, No. 37), eye teeth of a pig (colțu porcului, No. 39), and peacock's tail, may also be mentioned. Among the Roumanians of Macedonia both the dove and the serpent are common. Anthropomorphic designs are not known among the Roumanians of the kingdom, but among the Roumanians of Macedonia Adam and Eve form a common design. Among the latter also eggs are decorated with the patterns used for embroidering the national costume, but this is not the case with the Roumanians of the kingdom, who have, however, a whole series of inanimate subjects, such as the ploughshare (fierul plugului, No. 7), the hoe (grebla, No. 26), the wheel of the plough (roata plugului, No. 29), the shepherd's crook (cârligu ciobanului, No. 30), holy bread, such as is given to dying persons (prescură, No. 8), a window (fereastra. No. 10), and pieces of bread (codricei. No. 34). Other miscellaneous designs illustrated are Nos. 25 (mânăstire, a monastery), 28 (iarba mielului, the grass that the lamb eats), 35 (mânăstire, a monastery), 36 (palma, the palm), 33 (calea incurcată sau drumul robilor, the devious way or the path of the slaves, a sort of labyrinth),[1] and 40 (mâna milogului, the hand of the beggar).
The designs are arranged on the eggs in various ways. The "path of the slaves" (No. 33) takes up the whole surface, and some other large designs take up half the egg, e.g. the mole cricket (No. 4), so that the figure appears only twice on the egg,—but it is more usual to repeat the design four or eight times. The fir appears twice in No. 2, but eight times in No. 1. The goose's feet on an egg from the district of Buzău (No. 23), and another from the district of Curtea de Argeş (No. 6), and the ploughshare (No. 7), are
- ↑ This is the Roumanian name for the Milky Way.
